Employee Spotlight: Candace Kochosky

Q: How did your path in IT begin, and what drew you to The Walker Group? 

A: I got into IT in my 20s. I had gone to college for music, but I was always the person people came to when something needed fixing. Not just electronics, anything. This was back in the 90s, when most families had only one computer, and there weren’t many options for tech support. I saw an ad for a new company in Meriden that was looking for people to troubleshoot home PCs. I applied, and somehow, they hired me.

I spent a few years going in and out of people’s homes and carting computers around under my arm before shifting to the business side of IT. I ended up working almost exclusively with attorneys, and stayed in that legal tech space for nearly a decade.

When that company was sold to another MSP, I decided it was time for a change. I applied to The Walker Group and took on leading our OnCall Department for several years before eventually moving into the automation and monitoring side of the house, where I’ve stayed ever since.

Q: Your role has grown significantly over the years. Can you share that progression? 

 A: I originally started as our OnCall Supervisor, but I found myself missing the technical side. I could still mentor and advise, but my hands-on skills were starting to feel rusty. In IT, if you don’t keep up, you fall behind quickly.

A few years later, when a more senior team member left Walker, it created a gap in remote monitoring services, so I stepped in to take it over. That change turned out to be exactly what I needed. I realized I enjoy managing a product and building out automation more than managing people. It brought me back to the kind of work and challenges I actually enjoy.

I did both for quite a while, but as our remote monitoring service and OnCall department started growing fast, I had to pick a lane. I chose the one I enjoyed most.

Even after that shift, I continued working closely with our remote services team and field engineers, helping troubleshoot issues that needed a second set of eyes or fell outside someone’s usual experience. That constant collaboration gave me even more exposure to the remote management side, working out solutions to help our engineers do their jobs, as well. No day ever looks the same, which is exactly what keeps me engaged.

Since then, I’ve stayed in that lane. I’ve expanded our monitoring capabilities into a new platform for Macs, gotten involved in our Human Security offerings, and taken on ownership of client onboarding projects. That last piece really speaks to me. It blends a challenge, structure, tight deadlines, and plenty of spreadsheets, which is pretty much my ideal combination.

This past year, one of Walker’s Co-CEOs, Jessica Rich, encouraged me to join Leadership Greater Hartford's Quest program. It was an opportunity to stretch my professional skills in a new direction. The program brings together professionals from across the Hartford area who want to grow as leaders while contributing to the community. Alongside leadership development, we’re collaborating on a group project aimed at benefiting Hartford residents. Our current focus is on education equity, which we’re continuing to refine and shape.

Q: What do you love most about working in IT? What keeps you motivated in IT after all these years? What makes you tick? 

A:  What I love most about working in IT is that it’s never boring. There is always something to solve, something to improve, or something unexpected that keeps me thinking. I thrive on that constant challenge as well as the constant change.

At the same time, I find a lot of satisfaction in bringing order to the chaos. I enjoy creating structure where there isn’t any. Whether it’s documenting a process, managing systems, or building out an automation script, I love when everything lines up and the checkboxes start getting marked off. (Yes, I genuinely enjoy Excel. No, I’m not kidding.)

For me, IT is the perfect balance of logic, curiosity, and problem-solving. Every day is different, and every day is an opportunity to learn something new or make something work better. That’s what keeps me here.

Q: What’s one thing about working in IT that you don’t love?

A: Weirdly enough, dealing with tech support! It’s frustrating for regular users, I know, but when you’re talking with support about an issue and you know more than the person you’re talking to about the issue, it requires deep, calming breaths. A lot of them.

Q: How has the industry changed, especially for women in tech, since you started? 

A:  When I started in IT, I was the only technical woman in my company. I was actually told once, by an attorney who will remain unnamed, that he would rather work with a male counterpart - I’d never met him before, and that’s how he greeted me. That’s changed, but there’s still a ways to go. There’s more visibility now, more support, and more women stepping into technical and leadership roles. But it still really nice to have the venue bathroom to yourself when you attend a technical conference.

For women getting into tech today, I’d say this: Don’t doubt yourself. Pull up your own chair. Speak up, even when it’s uncomfortable. Ask questions, learn constantly, and fail, because you WILL fail, and it’s okay. Figure out why and do better next time. If you don’t know the answer to a problem, it’s quite likely there are other people who don’t know it, either. Women are always the ones asking for directions, not the men, right?

If I could go back and give myself advice, it would be this: trust that you belong here. You don’t need to know everything on day one. What matters is that you’re willing to figure it out, and you WILL figure it out. That mindset will get you further than any certification. (And make sure your google skills are up to scratch.)